THE FIRE Brigades Union (FBU), National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC), London Fire Brigade (LFB) and the Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE) all responded to the announcement of further funding for cladding remediation from the government.
Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick announced yesterday that the government would fund removal of combustible cladding ‘for all leaseholders in high-rise buildings’ above 18m, while a new levy and tax on developers would ‘ensure industry contributes’, with the measures to ‘boost the housing market and free up homeowners to once again buy and sell their properties’.
The £3.5bn in new funding means a total of £5bn has been provided by the government, with the complete funding of all cladding for buildings 18m and above ensuring ‘funding is targeted at the highest risk buildings in line with longstanding independent expert advice and evidence’. The government cited Home Office analysis of fire and rescue service statistics, which showed that buildings between 18m and 30m ‘are four times as likely to suffer a fire with fatalities or serious casualties’ than apartment buildings ‘in general’.
Lower rise buildings between 11m and 18m will ‘gain new protection’ from a ‘generous new scheme’ that will pay for cladding removal via a ‘long-term, low interest, government-backed financing arrangement’ meaning no leaseholder will ‘ever pay more than’ £50 a month towards cladding remediation. The government claimed this would ‘provide reassurance and security’ to leaseholders, while mortgage providers ‘can be confident’ that where cladding needs to be removed, properties ‘will be worth lending against’.
It also said it was working with industry to ‘reduce the need’ for external wall review (EWS1) forms, thus ‘preventing leaseholders from facing delays’ and allowing for purchases and sales. A ‘Gateway 2’ developer levy was also announced, that will be ‘targeted’ and ‘apply when developers seek permission to develop certain high-rise buildings’, alongside a new tax for the UK residential development sector that aims to raise £2bn over a decade to fund cladding remediation.
The tax aims to ‘ensure that the largest property developers make a fair contribution to the remediation programme, reflecting the benefit they will derive from restoring confidence to the UK housing market’. Legislation being brought forward this year to ‘tighten the regulation’ of building safety will, alongside review the construction products regime, help ‘prevent malpractice arising again’.
On the EWS1 situation, the government said it was ‘aware’ that securing ‘appropriate’ professional indemnity insurance for the work was a ‘major barrier’, and so it said it was ‘committing’ to work towards a ‘targeted, state-backed’ indemnity scheme for professionals unable to obtain said insurance for the EWS1 surveys. It would ‘work closely’ with industry to design such a scheme, with more details to come.
After the FPA shared its views yesterday, the FBU, NFCC, LFB and IFE have all given their perspectives on the announcement. The FBU accused the government of taking a ‘piecemeal and patchwork approach’ to the situation that was ‘designed to shield itself from responsibility’, with general secretary Matt Wrack commenting: ‘From the very start, firefighters and residents have warned that the building safety crisis goes far beyond the flammable cladding that was on Grenfell Tower. This funding falls far short of the estimated £15bn needed to end the crisis.
‘The government’s piecemeal and patchwork approach – designed to shield itself from responsibility – is wreaking havoc on the lives of millions of innocent people. The government has sent a clear message that it cares more about their friends and donors in the housing and construction industry than residents trapped in dangerous buildings below 18m or the tens of thousands more with other serious fire safety defects.’
The NFCC meanwhile highlighted the plans to ‘fully fund’ remediation of combustible cladding for all leaseholders in buildings 18m or above, with chair Roy Wilsher commenting: ‘We welcome the additional funding announced today, which we hope will help to speed up the removal of dangerous cladding off high rise buildings. This is a step in the right direction.
‘Whilst we will need to work through the detail of today’s announcement, it is vitally important that the new funding is distributed quickly so that as a matter of priority people can be made safe in their homes. We acknowledge that this will not address all the safety issues in the built environment and we will continue to work with government and partners to address these to ensure all residents can feel safe in their homes and are protected from the financial impact of these building failures.
‘The government has also set out the support package for other buildings and we will be working with fire and rescue services in the coming weeks to assess what the impact on the sector and leaseholders will be. We are pleased to see that action is to be taken to introduce a new tax and levy on developers to help finance this work going forward. It is right that those that built these buildings in the first place pay for the problems to be fixed.
‘Only by ensuring that new builds are designed and constructed safely from the outset can Government, regulators, and the wider industry ensure that unsafe buildings are no longer built. This action must start as soon as possible and we look forward to the introduction of the Building Safety Bill so that the proposed new “gateways” regime of building controls can be introduced.’
An LFB spokesperson stated: ‘Our priority has always been the safety of Londoners and anything which speeds up the remediation of fire safety issues in the built environment is a step in the right direction. This issue is particularly pressing in London where the nature of the built environment means we have a far higher number of high risk building than anywhere else in the country.
‘We welcome the announcement of a levy on developers to help address this – it is vital the industry has a role in funding remediation work. However, we remain concerned about the scale of the issues being uncovered in buildings across the UK, which are much wider than just dangerous cladding. The priority must be to get a resolution to all these issues as quickly as possible so that people feel safe in their homes.
‘Almost four years after the Grenfell Tower fire, it is concerning that there are still so many members of our communities who live in fear and we will continue to work with Government and building owners to ensure the safety of buildings now and in future.’
Finally, the IFE stated: ‘IFE welcomes the positive action taken by RICS to develop this guidance to support valuers in adopting a risk-based approach for valuation assessments. IFE will continue to engage with RICS, the government and lenders to help refine the guidance to ensure ongoing compatibility with other fire safety guidance and legislation.’